The present invention relates to temperature controls and more particularly to a digital computerized environmental temperture control system.
It is widely recognized that substantial energy unnecessarily is wasted in buildings having many occupancy units, such as apartment houses, large office buildings, hotels, and the like, in which each occupancy unit includes at least one thermostat for controlling the ambient temperature either by heating or cooling. Such losses occur through a variety of reasons, some of which are attributable to human carelessness, and others due, for example, to the orientation of the building with respect to the sun, and seasonal and daily cyclical variations in environmental temperature. Thus, by way of example, on a sunny day those occupancy units on one side of a building facing the sun will be warmer due to increased solar radiation and, accordingly, will require either less heat in the winter time or more cooling in the summer time, as the case may be, than the other units on the shady side of the building.
In another example, on holidays office buildings require less heating or cooling, as the case may be, than on regular workdays, and will require more heating or cooling during daily peak periods than otherwise. Further adjustments may have to be made for shifts in the peak demand periods when, for example, Daylight Saving Time is instituted.
In addition, through individual carelessness, thermostats may be left at unduly high or low settings after the office has been vacated for the day, or a room window may be left open, thus calling for unnecessary heating or cooling.
Avoidable waste of fuel, in such cases as those described above, has become a source of great concern particularly since the advent of critical shortages in fuel and the spiraling cost of almost all sources of energy. A long felt need has, therefore, existed for an energy-efficient, computerized temperature control system which will eliminate unnecessary heat waste caused by the above-described factors, as well as many others too numerous to specifically detail herein.
The thermostat most commonly used in the past in the above-described, multi-unit applications, as well as in the home, is the electromechanical type having a bimetallic strip which curls and straightens to open and close a mercury switch.
Recently, however, improved electronic thermostats have become available, which, in addition to providing greater accuracy and reliability as compared with the electro-mechanical type, are particularly suitable for control by computer. A particularly advantageous electronic thermostat of this class is exemplified by the digitally controlled electronic thermostat described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,718.
It is accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an electronic temperature control system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer-controlled temperature control system for monitoring and controlling temperatures at multiple remote locations.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a digital computerized temperature control system of the character described which is adaptable for use with multiple, digitally-operated electronic thermostats espectively situated at multiple remote locations.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a digital computerized temperature control system of the character described which substantially reduces waste of fuel, which otherwise results from improperly set thermostats.